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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Cafe Culture

I don't know about you, but I love my coffee. Coffee in the morning, coffee on rainy days, coffee with friends, coffee and lazy Sunday mornings, coffee and coffee. Yes, I love tea too, but there is something else about coffee - I remember watching my parents with their mugs full while reading the paper on weekends - I think I have always associated it with being a "grown-up" . Oh, how I've tried to give you up coffee, and switch to green tea, switch to just black tea and lemon, switch to nothing but guzzling tons of water. Yes, that is probably healthier - but as I learned, not going to happen. The other thing is well, that I just love cafes and, that cafe lifestyle. I would have loved to have been part of one of the cafe art, literary, or philosophical movements- of the past. You can read about the history of the Cafe/coffeehouse here.

I often wonder if that sort of sharing of ideas and creating of a movement will/could ever happen in the same way? (As the cafe culture becomes more Starbucks-like, and as more and more ideas are shared on the Internet, not in one centralized location) It's something to think about.

In any case, I still like going to the local cafes and spending time talking with friends- or with just Mario.

5 comments:

I love coffee but only black, no sugar or cream or caramel or ice or whatever. I gave up coffee for a full month, just to see if I could and it was fine. I didn't feel soooo tired all day or whatever the stereotype is. So now I just drink it whenever I feel like it, which is most weekdays.

I frequent just about every decent-coffeeied establishment in my neighborhood. The one closest to my apartment makes delicious Intelligensia cold-press in the summer so I usually go there now. The one a little further down, next to my feral cats, makes a decent cup of Stumptown and serve vegan items (vegan chive cream cheese on bagels!). The next one is less sit-and-visit; they serve Equal Exchange and sometimes have delicious vegan muffins.

I was just talking to the owner of the first one this morning about how none of the old school neighbors go in that shop, but all of the newer, younger, white yuppie-ish folks do.

That said, I only drink 1 large cup of coffee a day, light with soy. Maybe 2. Then switch to either green (genmai) or black tea with soy.

I drink lots of coffee, and never once felt like it was something I should try and cut back on. I did stop taking sugar in my morning coffee a year ago, but I'll still enjoy a sweetened coffee drink at starbucks.

I love sitting in coffee shops for hours, either chatting with a friend or eavesdropping alone.

Mmmmm, in Wellington, Starbucks still survive but are far outnumbered by our coffeehouses. Everything is "done" over coffee (or hot beverage); because of the inclement weather in our capital (basically windy all the time, and shirky summers) it is essential to have little cosy (or chic) places to quickly nip into to get warm. There is a thriving cafe culture, and I love it. (Not that I get any time whatsoever to enjoy it now that I have kiddlies...but in my previous no-kid life....) Maybe it isn't so coincidental that Wellington is considered the Art and Cultural hub of New Zealand...because we have so many cafes to sit and muse in?